Maj. Gen. Anthony Crutchfield and his wife, Kim, highlighting military families at Quad-A. Photos by Andrew Parker The sacrifices that military families make took center stage during the opening ceremonies of the Army Aviation Association of America’s Professional Forum and Exhibition (Quad-A) in Nashville. Maj. Gen. Anthony Crutchfield and his wife...

Rockwell Collins provided a demo of its CAAS simulator during Quad-A (terrain elevation visible on left screen). Photo by Andrew Parker Rockwell Collins has completed a series of flight tests of its Common Avionics...

Lynn Tilton with the MD540F. Photos by Andrew Parker After 15 years without unveiling a new rotorcraft, it only took around three months for MD Helicopters to pull together its latest offering—the 540F. An upgrade to the 530F, the new model will feature a Rolls-Royce engine, avionics from Elbit Systems and a six-blade rotor system. The company plans to enter the 540F into the U.S. Army’s Armed...

Maj. Gen. Tim Crosby speaking at the handover ceremony for the 200th EADS UH-72A for the U.S. Army in March. EADS North America and Eurocopter handed over the 200th UH-72A light utility helicopter (LUH) to the U.S. Army on March 1, marking it as the first purpose-built model built for the Army National Guard’s Security and Support (S&S) battalions. The UH-72A Lakota is the replacement aircraft...

The EADS AAS-72X+ on display during Quad-A. EADS North America introduced a boosted version of its Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) offering for the U.S. Army during Quad-A in Nashville. Dubbed the AAS-72X+, the helicopter is a derivative of the AAS-72X Lakota light utility helicopter (LUH), and is based on the commercial EC145T2. Plans call for 72X+ production to take place at American Eurocopter’s facility...

U.S. Congressman Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) spoke about the goals of the Army Aviation Caucus (AAC) and said that Americans “have to grapple with the situation that we face.” Photo by Andrew Parker During a speech at the Quad-A Forum & Exhibition in Nashville, U.S. Congressman Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) laid out the goals of the Army Aviation Caucus (AAC), which he formed in December 2011 with co-chairman...

AVX Aircraft Company is currently studying a Joint Multi Role concept under a U.S. Army contract. Shown in the inset are three Army conceptual designs for the Future Vertical Lift (FVL) program showing (top to bottom) tiltrotor, single rotor and coaxial configurations. Here’s a grim fact: the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has not fielded an all-new combat rotorcraft since the Bell-Boeing V-22...

The single biggest threat to national security is the national debt. When Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) began his address to delegates on the second day of the main forum at the Army Aviation Association of America (Quad-A) in Nashville, Tenn., with the above warning, you could almost sense the assembled military personnel reaching for their helmets and looking for a foxhole. Yet the quote is not new, but...

How does a small start-up company come out of nowhere in just over half a decade to land one of four contracts, each worth $4 million, from the U.S. Army to conduct Configuration Trades Analysis studies for the next generation of military helicopter? It has a lot to do with the “gray-haired” engineering team that AVX Aircraft founder David Brody put together beginning in 2005. One of those men...

The main aim of U.S. Army Aviation is now to preserve the force for the future, said Maj. Gen. Anthony Crutchfield, commanding general of the Army Aviation Center of Excellence, during his opening remarks at the 2012 AAAA Forum in Nashville. The annual gathering of the U.S. Army Aviation command was held against a backdrop of pending defense cuts that are currently set at $470 billion over the next 10...

After 15 years without unveiling a new rotorcraft, it only took around three months for MD Helicopters to pull together its latest offering—the 540F. An upgrade to the 530F, the new model will feature a Rolls-Royce engine, avionics from Elbit Systems and a six-bladed rotor system. The company plans to enter the 540F into the U.S. Army’s Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) competition, in addition to...

The U.S. Army Aviation Association of America honored its National Award recipients for 2011 during Monday’s opening ceremonies of the annual Professional Forum & Exposition (Quad-A) in Nashville. The awards recognize outstanding achievements of aviation units, individual soldiers and civilians. This year six soldiers, five units and two civilians received awards. The Boeing Outstanding Aviation...

The sacrifices that military families make took center stage on Monday during the opening ceremonies of the Army Aviation Association of America’s Professional Forum and Exhibition in Nashville. Maj. Gen. Anthony Crutchfield and his wife, Kim, honored a number of spouses for continued support while significant...

Guiseppi Orsi, once CEO of helicopter manufacturer AgustaWestland, now chief executive of parent Italian defence company Finmeccanica, is overseeing the organization’s biggest overhaul in a decade. Finmeccanica has just announced a EUR 2.3 billion ($3.06 billion) net loss for 2011, in contrast with a net profit of EUR 557 million the previous year. This was due to write-downs and one-off charges of...

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